English: Dixon double bass drum pedal Русский: Двойная педаль бас-барабана Dixon (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The recent surge in drum set popularity can be slightly attributed to video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band , which allow even music novices to perform like pro drum set players on their favorite music tunes. Before you make the transition from a video game drum set controller to a real drum set, you need to know what makes up a real drum set. While your drum set will reflect your personal tastes, the type of music you plan to play, and your budget, each drum set shares a few common components. A standard drum set will have a snare drum , a bass drum, high hat , toms, cymbals , bass pedal , and all of the necessary hardware to keep your drum set together. Other things may be added to the drum set, like a cowbell, a drum set tambourine, extra toms, a heavy floor tom , extra cymbals, wind chimes, or even a gong. I even had one drum set where I substituted the snare dru...

When a percussion player is given a cymbal part, they may find themselves performing on a set of hand cymbals, rolling on a suspended cymbal , or jamming out a beat on a drum set. Different types of cymbals are used for each music situation. An extensive knowledge of the different cymbal types is necessary in order to better perform the music and avoid making a novice musician's mistakes. There are many different types of cymbals A ride cymbal is most commonly seen in a drum set situation. A ride cymbal is usually slightly heavier than a crash cymbal . The percussion player plays the ride cymbal with a stick. A traditional use of the ride cymbal is the use of it in jazz ensembles, where the percussion player performs the characteristic " tap , tap-ta-tap, tap-ta-tap" rhythm often associated with more traditional jazz styles. The ride cymbal often keeps the beat and slight music accents, and should not be used for heavy cymbal crashes. A crash cymbal is ofte...

Percussion 101: Percussion Families When most people ask what I play, I say "Percussion". They usually look at me with a questioning look, and a "Oh, that's nice". Then I say, "I play the drums." The lightbulb hits. "Oh, you are a DRUMMER!" Percussion is more than Animal banging on a set of toms. It is more than "More COWBELL!" and it is definitely more than that little monkey that plays the cymbals. There are several different groups of percussion instruments. Since percussion instruments essentially include anything you hit or shake to make noise (including noisemakers like bird whistles, car brake drums, radios, and the kitchen sink), being able to include every instrument seems like a daunting task.  Generally musicians group percussion into pitched and non-pitched percussion. Here are some basic pitched Percussion Instruments:  Pitched Metals : Bells, Crotales, Vibraphone, Chimes Pitched Wood : Marimba, Xylophone Pitched Drum...